Getting Elected
How do so many Republicans get elected to the US House of Representatives when they don’t have the numbers going into elections? I think Jared Polis has shown us how. Just pretend you’re a Democrat and then after you’re in office switch to voting with the GOP. Bingo. There you are. Thanks Jared for showing us how it’s done.
By the way, the liberal progressive voice that elected you in a very expensive race stands for open-minded participatory democracy. We do not want private, clandestine, corporate-favoring trade agreements. We do not want closed borders, especially after a 2 year vetting process shows this recent group of refugees to be mostly women and children who are safe, needy and in great danger if they return to their homeland. We also want to work for peace. Thanks for eventually voting for the negotiated treaty with Iran only after sustained pressure by the people who voted for you. We really shouldn’t have to work so hard to get our representative to actually represent us.
Maybe you should pick up a copy of the Democratic Party Platform before voting with the Republicans on the next major issue. It might be edifying.
Sally Terwilliger/Boulder
Prepare for the worst
Most people live comfortably in communities in which there is a high level of agreement. In what the radicals at the University of Missouri, Ferguson, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street or the SDS students forty-five years ago would call narrow-mindedness. Rather than agreement, these radicals seek to create disputes or crisis situations that stimulate cognitive dissonance, re-clarification of values and questioning of entrenched beliefs and positions. For them, any and all of our beliefs, no matter how cherished, are open to and, in fact, require scrutiny, re-valuation and re-thinking. In contrast, tyranny and terrorism impose certainty; yet, they have the same effect, to radicalize people. How our leaders interpret and respond to political or social movements and events not just informs and influences, but also re-educates us and reconstructs our world. As the November 2016 election approaches the attacks on our society, economy and politics will intensify. As we think about the candidates for President we need to think about not just whose tax plan is most appealing or whose personality is more pleasing? Ask: Who can handle riots and chaos at home and tyranny and terror abroad?
Michael F. McCarthy, 22977 Palazzo Del Kala/Hayward, CA
Thanks back at you
Kudos to Boulder Weekly for highlighting these critical news items; most of which I did NOT learn about from the mainstream media (Re: “Project Censored,” Nov. 12). I am grateful that we have a true NEWSPAPER here in Boulder County. Thanks to everyone at Boulder Weekly.
Yemaya Thayer/Boulder
Debunking myths about Sanders’ electability
One of the frequently mentioned arguments in favor of supporting Hillary rather than Bernie at the Colorado Democratic caucuses March 1 is that she’s supposedly more “electable” than he is against the GOP nominee. The corporate-owned media bends over backwards to maintain and strengthen this perception in the minds of voters. Recently an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed the following percentages: Bernie topping Trump 50-41, better than Hillary’s 50-42, and Bernie topping Rubio 46-42, better than Hillary’s 47-44. On the same night that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported this on her show, the NBC Nightly News reported only the fact that Hillary was beating both Trump and Rubio, without a word about Bernie’s slightly better showing. Now the latest McCatchy-Marist poll shows Bernie beating Trump 53-41 and Bush 51-41.
Millennials are going crazy for Bernie on social media, while Green Party members, Socialists and Independents are re-registering in droves as Dems to be able to caucus for him on March 1. Republicans unable to stomach their party’s nominee would also be more likely to jump ship for Bernie than for Hillary. (Check out “Republicans for Bernie Sanders” on Facebook.) And please remember that even though one can register to vote right up until election day, December 31 is the deadline for changing one’s party affiliation.
Bernie is the only candidate who will consistently work for us, not for big money interests. I’ve been voting for decades, and there hasn’t been a candidate like him in my lifetime.
Cara Anderson/Boulder
Skip the turkey
While President Obama is pardoning two turkeys for Thanksgiving, every one of us can exercise that same presidential power by choosing a nonviolent Thanksgiving observance that spares a turkey’s life.
And here are some good reasons: •You can brag about pardoning a turkey — like Obama.
•You truly are what you eat. Who wants to be a “butterball”?
•Fruits and vegetables don’t have to carry government warning labels.
•You won’t sweat the environment and food-resources devastation guilt trip.
•You won’t spend a sleepless night wondering how the turkey lived and died.
•Your body will appreciate a holiday from saturated fat, cholesterol, and hormones.
•You won’t have to call Poultry Hotline to keep your family out of the emergency room.
Seriously, this Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for our good fortune, health and happiness with a life-affirming, crueltyfree feast of vegetables, fruits, and grains.
Our own dinner will feature a soy or wheat-based roast, mashed potatoes, stuffed squash, candied yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. An Internet search on “vegetarian Thanksgiving” is getting us more recipes and other useful information than we could possibly use.
Stanley Silver/Boulder
Fear not
When Christians are advised to fear Muslims, Muslims are advised to fear Christians ( like this is a new development ) and of course, the NRA advises us all to fear everyone, the only possible winner is the arms manufacturing business.
Perhaps the time has come to do something else besides cower in fear and enhance the bottom line of sociopathic extremist gun runners who really don’t care about anyone’s God… or lack thereof.
One would hope we can learn from our mistakes.
Education beats fear-based indoctrination every time.
Tommy Holeman/Christiansted St. Croix, USVI
